THE ICE CREAM BLONDE: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd Academic but accessible, this smart story is an absolute page-turner. In following this speci?c, enthralling case from a time after the Civil War and before current tensions between police departments and communities of color, Gross connects the criminal justice system of the Reconstruction era with both its roots and where it ended up.
Author Kali Nicole Gross explains her research process in the book’s prologue and epilogue, and the narrative in between is enriched with her inquisitive energy. And the subsequent investigation of whom the torso belonged to and what had happened to the victim touched on race, gender, sex, scandal, and a mysterious woman who did not play with-in society’s norms. The titular torso in this suspenseful account was discovered near Philadelphia in 1887. HANNAH MARY TABBS AND THE DISEMBODIED TORSO: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America
This true crime story would be perfect fodder if Law & Order ever decides to launch a 19th-century spinoff. Eatwell’s history is equal parts bizarre and literary, presenting the evidence without bias so that, until the very end, it’s unclear who’s telling the truth.
Fusing an excellent historical eye with an engaging narrative, author Piu Marie Eatwell breaks down not only how the case unfolded, but also the psychology of an eccentric man whose wealth allowed him to maintain his “genteel” status amid rumors of orgies, vampiric habits, and travel via underground tunnels. In 1898, Anna Maria Druce announced to the British court that her father-in-law was in fact the previously-thought-deceased Fifth Duke of Portland. But the Whitechapel killer wasn’t the only strange man lurking about. When it comes to British crime, Jack the Ripper and the Victorian era have a monopoly on our imaginations.
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